In a continuing effort to improve the quality of fresh market and shipping fruit, we, the inventors, typically hybridize a large number of nectarine and peach seedlings each year. The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of nectarine tree, which has been denominated varietally as "Fire Sweet". The present variety was developed by us in 1991 in a cultivated area of our experimental orchard at Bradford Farms near Le Grand, Calif. in Merced County (San Joaquin Valley). It was a first generation cross using Summer Fire (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,506) nectarine as the seed parent and an unnamed white flesh nectarine seedling as the selected pollen parent. This unnamed pollen parent was previously developed by crossing August Red (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,363) nectarine by Bradcrim (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,461) nectarine. Subsequent to origination of the present variety of nectarine tree, we asexually reproduced it by budding and grafting, and such reproduction of plant and fruit characteristics were true to the original plant in all respects.
The present variety is most similar to its seed parent, the Summer Fire (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,506), by producing yellow flesh clingstone nectarines that are nearly full red in skin color and very firm in texture, but is distinguished therefrom and an improvement thereon by producing fruit that is subacidic rather than acidic in flavor, that ripens about 6 days later, that is more globose in shape, and that has a bitter kernel instead of sweet.
The present variety is smaller to Bradcrim (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 8,461), one pollen grandparent, by producing nectarines that are full red in skin color and subacidic in flavor, but is very distinguished therefrom by producing fruit that is yellow flesh instead of white flesh, that is clingstone instead of freestone, that is much firmer, and that ripens about 30 days later. The present variety is similar to August Red (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 6,363), the other pollen grandparent, by producing yellow flesh clingstone nectarines that are large and very firm in texture, but is very distinguished therefrom by producing fruit that is subacidic in flavor instead of acidic, that is much sweeter, and that ripens about 20 days earlier.